I've been burning my whole life. When I was 10 years old it was my job to fill the wood furnace before I walked to school. In my first house, I put an insert in the fireplace and started my own routine. It was pre internet and I never really researched the rules of burning. Season any hardwood for a year and fire it in.... Fast forward to my place I build in 2019. I had taken a 7 year break from burning but also built up my internet acumen. I was a research fanatic. I built my place around my wood furnace and learned a lot about modern wood burning tech and all the things I did wrong my whole burning life... Jump ahead again to my 7th season of reading here and other places. Also, 7 seasons of processing and burning with all my acquired knowledge. Welp, aside from the obvious about modern EPA furnaces and proper seasoning, moisture content etc. to keep them happy, I've learned that everyone's setup is completely different when it comes to what burns best. I initially took the BTU and seasoning chart here as gospel. I also listened to others experiences with "this wood or that" and figured that must be what's best for me. But I've learned that is simply not the case. Take beech for example. Supposed to dry super fast (it does) and have great BTUs. I have a ton of it and it's dying like crazy around me between the beech bark disease and the new leaf wilt disease that started last year. My furnace HATES it. Starts off great but coals terribly and will chill the house while you wait for it to burn down so you can reload. On the other hand, red oak which many says coals bad on them, burns fast, hot and clean for me. Coals almost as little as garbage red maple that I burn in the shoulder seasons. There are other examples but I'm sure you all get what I'm saying. So, have others found that what works for the masses may not be the best fit for them? I'm continually surprised by reading how some things that works great for others skunk me but on the flip side, things that work for me are less than stellar for others...
I have the same exact experience with beech. I found that mixing it with hotter burning stuff like ash, pine, tulip poplar or aspen will help it burn more completely. Same thing with cherry. A stove full of nothing but cherry doesn't make a lot of heat and leaves a pile of charcoal behind. Mix it with other things and the issue goes away. Oak burns long and steady for me, usually. But I've had some that was cut green, dried for 2-3 years and burned fast with little coals. Maybe it was an open-grown tree and the grain was less dense? I dunno. But yeah, everyone has different setups, variation in growing conditions from tree to tree, area to area, all sorts of different variables that change the final outcome. There are general guidelines, but your mileage may vary.
Indeed, everyone has to learn what works best for them and their set of circumstances. Then you have to learn to ignore all the know-it-alls that tell you you're doing it all wrong. I enjoy learning from others, and sometimes what I learn is twisted or adapted to suit my needs. I always tell folks I've earned my methods and opinions by experience, but if you have a better way SHOW ME that it is better. One example that pops to mind is the Fiskars x27 splitting axe; so many folks raved about those things that I bought one, thinking it would be a real work saver. I HATE that thing with a passion. Might as well use a plain old 3-1/2 pound felling axe for all the good it does me. Some have pointed out that it needs speed and not force to work well. Guess I've swung too many 8 and 10 pound and Monster Mauls to figure out how that "speed" works. Maybe it's because I end up splitting a lot of knotty oak. Either way, I'm sure not going to tell the overwhelming majority that love these things they're wrong, but they don't work for me. To each his own.
I have both a monster maul and the X27 and will take the skeleton-rattling maul over the Fiskars any day. Blunt force trauma works better for me than fast swinging with no mass behind it.
I think every tree source burns different as does every stove, no one size fits all. My old smoke dragon loved a gut full of locust but my cat stove I have to just mixed it in. Cherry sometimes burns really good and other times not.
